SmartRules Trigger for Children Nodes

gslade_2 shared this idea ago

Voting Open

I wanted to create a SmartRule that a parent topic could specify a color change if any of its children has a warning icon set on it. I was sure this was possible but upon checking I see there are no triggers available for anything on children :-(

There should definitely be tigger actions that apply to children and levels - you should be able to select node as the parent and then have a SmartRule trigger for only its children.

I like this idea

Replies (2)

Alex G.

MindManager Expert

● 3 years ago

A variant of this has been proposed before - see the discussion at Project management help - allow smart rule that changes parent topic color | MindManager User Community Support Forum and Add a topic field to SmartRules triggers and expand the trigger field to include topic attributes | MindManager User Community Support Forum I've also proposed that topic level be available as a trigger: Add Topic Level as a Power Filter option, SmartRules trigger and Formula Task attribute | MindManager User Community Support Forum

To reiterate, I think the best way to implement this would be to allow SmartRules to access descendant and remote topics in the same way that formulas currently can do. In effect the the SmartRule trigger would have an additional topic field to identify which topic(s) set the trigger (with This Topic being the default), while the trigger field itself would be expanded to include topic attributes such as colour, fill, etc.

In the interim there is a workaround which involves two SmartRules and a formula, as follows:

Create a numeric topic property on one of the child topics called, say, "Flag".
Write a SmartRule that will generate a value of 1 in this topic property if the warning icon is present. The topic property should then appear on all the child properties with the relevant icon.
In the parent topic write a formula like the following: [FlagCount]=COUNT(Children.[Flag])>0 where Flag is the name of the property you created on the child topic. This formula sets up a test where if one or more of the child topics has the warning icon and therefore a value in the Flag property, the FlagCount property on the parent topic will equal 1.
Create the second SmartRule which will generate the effect you want on the parent topic whenever FlagCount is greater than zero.

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Ary V.

MindManager Expert

● 3 years ago

I believe this is already possible.

You can set the smartrule for only the children etc. Just take care where you place it and to tick the correct boxes

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Alex G.

MindManager Expert

● 3 years ago

Hi Ary, I think the question was about applying an effect specifically to the parent topic which is triggered by an icon or other property in one or more child topics of that parent.

As far as I can tell, Topic belongs to Branch doesn't do that, even if you add another trigger such as an icon. The only way the effect would apply to the parent would be if the parent also met the trigger criteria in its own right.

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